Mike is a retired stock broker, and now published author of Gold Rush!. In addition, he is a freelance writer specializing in real estate, personal finance and home decor now writing from San Miguel, Mexico.

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“We believe oil markets may have entered the early stages of what we have referred to as a “super spike” period — a multi-year trading band of oil prices high enough to meaningfully reduce energy consumption and recreate a spare capacity cushion only after which will lower energy prices return,” Goldman’s analysts wrote.

The analysts said resilient demand had led them to revise their super-spike range to $50-$105 per barrel from $50-$80 previously, noting strength in oil demand and economic growth in the United States and China especially.

Jane Fonda says her 1972 visit to a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun site, an incident that brought her the nickname “Hanoi Jane,” was a “betrayal” of American forces and of the “country that gave me privilege.”

I am still waiting for Kerry to admit to his Aid and Comfort and BTW, It was 60 days ago that John Kerry promised, on national TV, to sign form SF-180 and release his military records. He has yet to do so.

On Monday, the blog Landfair Furniture told you about Lip-Sticking. If you aren’t reading it, you are missing some great marketing tips oriented to women on-line. Yvonne DiVita of Lip-Sticking surprised us by asking for an interview in Smart Couple Online You can see the result of that interview here.

In the book, Yvonne urges businesses to break out of the old Dick and Jane mindset of the 20th century and enter the new millennium where Jane is the gender with the power, the money, and the inclination to shop online.

The WSJ (by Subscrip. only) has on the opinion page an article titled Red Dusk, It’s time Hollywood gave up its love affair with communism. In it Bridget Johnson tells us that Hollywood is planning more movies about Che Guevera. This is the Che in Motorcycle Diaries that I wrote about on January 4, 2005. Just a reminder of the glories of Che that Hollywood, I suspect, would like us not to remember:

“…Che Guevara, whose legacy includes both ordering and conducting executions and founding forced labor camps. “Guevara . . . quickly gain[ed] a reputation for ruthlessness; a child in his guerrilla unit who had stolen a little food was immediately shot without trial,” writes Pascal Fontaine in “The Black Book.” Guevara also wrote in his diary about executing peasant Eutimio Guerra, a suspected informant, with a single .32-caliber shot to the head. Guevara, in his will, praised the “extremely useful hatred that turns men into effective, violent, merciless, and cold killing machines.” He tried to spread the havoc caused by the Cuban revolution in other countries from Africa to South America, rallying for “two, three, many Vietnams!”

Guevara oversaw executions at La Cabana prison; some of those executed were his former comrades who wouldn’t relinquish their democratic beliefs. “To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary,” he said. He didn’t assuage his barbarity by being a brilliant statesman, either, helping drive the economy to ruin as head of Cuba’s central bank and minister of industries. “Though claiming to despise money,” writes Fontaine, “he lived in one of the rich, private areas of Havana.” Guevara told a British reporter after the Cuban Missile Crisis that the nukes would have been fired if they were under Cuban control–which would have wasted all of those future American suburban revolutionary wannabes.”

rand holman’s THE DAILY POLEMIC brings to mind how I was stunned at the SCOTUS decision, yesterday.

“The Supreme Court refused Monday to shield the news media from being sued for accurately reporting a politician’s false charges against a rival.”

Reporters will no longer be allowed to quote charges made by a public figures without risking libel charges. They must be able to prove the charges are false or true before quoting. Here’s the part that confuses me:

“Otherwise, they said, for example, the press could not have reported last year on the charges lodged against Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth because Kerry’s supporters said their charges were false.”

Does that mean there would have been no reporting of the charges, just because Kerry’s people said they were false? How will this work in practice and are we as bloggers vulnerable?

“Mover Mike has also been pondering economics and the implications of the US national debt. It’s currently a massive $26,347.74 per US Citizen and is increasing at $2.32 Billion per day. In this age of the Pro:Am – where amateurs can often produce work of equal quality, if not better than their professional counterparts, I was amused to see Mike correcting the Sunday Oregonian as to the actual size of debt America faces. The professionals, in this case, seemed to have exaggerated the levels by 300%.”

I was reading today’s Sunday Oregonian and the Julie Tripp business column: Grim and greatly exaggerated. One statistic jumped out at me.

“FEAR NO. 1: Government spending and the federal deficit are out of control and will ruin the economy, throw the country into recession and bring back runaway inflation.

WORST CASE: It’s true that the $1.9 trillion national debt — $67,000 for every U.S. citizen — is towering.”

Wrong Julie! The federal is towering but it is not $1.9 Trillion. It is

that computes to $26,347.74. per US Citizen and it is increasing at $2.32 Billion per day. Where is that money coming from? Why foreigners. We need to import that amount of money every day to keep all the dishes spinning. And about those foreigners, Julie says:

“LIKELY OUTCOME: A tough call, but if the will develops to cut the national deficit and to save more, the United States could dodge this bullet. Eventually, the lower dollar will make the price of imports too high and U.S. consumption of Asian goods will drop. Exports from the United States would cost less with a weak dollar.

WHAT TO DO: Diversify into international stocks, bonds and funds. Keep your domestic bonds short. Save more of your dough. And when you do spend, buy American.”

There is no “will” to lower the deficit. We would need to cut the deficit by at least $250 Billion just to keep the deficit from increasing, that’s the amount of interest on our debt each year. How low does the dollar have to go to make the price of imports “too High”. One of those imports is oil. $56 per barrel hasn’t changed our behavior much. Imagine the political fireworks if gasoline was $5.00 per barrel! And “Buy American”! When Walmart doubles as China’s retail outlet, how are we to “Buy American”. Try buying American Oil. Try buying only American cars. Try buying American TV’s, Computers, Furniture, Fabrics, Nike’s for crying out loud. Julie, getting two financial analysts to give you pap for your readers is doing us a dis-service. When CFP’s traditionally recommend 5-10% of assets in Gold, where is that advice for your readers? By the way, when I posted this, the national debt was: $7,782,633,474,857

trading

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